Our Lady, Her Work, and the Devil's Attacks

Members of the self-proclaimed "official" website out of Fostoria, OH have recently been making defamatory statements and declarations on theirs and others' websites in regard to statements allegedly made by Sr. Millie relating to a "ring of evil" she felt at Kneipp Springs (now Sylvan Springs) the day before Our Lady of America first appeared to her in the Our Lady Mother of Mercy Chapel. They want faithful believers to be swayed from even visiting Rome City to pray and learn the truth of these events for themselves. Their agenda appears to be geared towards discrediting our own Blessed Mother's choice of birthplaces for this devotion...just as was done in Lourdes back in the 1860's when locals tried to convince visitors not to go to the outskirts of town where Bernadette's visions took place in hopes of keeping them in town where merchants could hawk their trinkets more easily. They are after money and do not show concern with the condition of the pilgrim's souls or the bishops' directions in promoting this devotion.

This type of evil behavior was expected and has been experienced for several years now. This is how the "evil one" works. He is always on the attack against Our Lady and Her good works. He can make otherwise good people do evil things and convince them they are doing God's work. Such appears to be the case we have before us now.

Sr. Millie was very naive about the early apparitions she was receiving which lead up to the Our Lady of America apparitions. She thought all religious had these experiences. Keep in mind, this woman entered the religious life at the start of her teen years and really had no "real world" education. She lead a sheltered life. This is not necessarily a bad thing, it just helps one to understand the circumstances surrounding her own experiences and how she perceived them.

When she said she felt a "ring of evil" at Kneipp Springs, it was because the devil already knew what she didn't. The devil knew Our Lady had great plans for this place...plans She had already ordained more than 50 years earlier when She had worked through John Noll (later to be known as Archbishop Noll who saved the National Basilica and defended the faith against the yellow journalists of 1914-1922).

The devil is always on the attack against Our Lady's work. It is one of the criteria well-balanced spiritual directors look for in discerning the veracity of events such as this. If Sr. Millie had not reported this ominous evil presence, it would have made her own experiences less credible. This fact would not have been lost on her own spiritual director of 32 years (Archbishop Paul Leibold).

The devil tries to scare off the faithful with lies, threats, and sometimes physical assaults. He will do all he can to get you to not do God's will and run away from what is about to happen. Sr. Millie may have been terrified, but she held her ground... and just look at what glorious things have happened as a result!

These attacks have not ended and probably never will as long as there is this battle between good and evil going on with this movement. Every time we suffer these attacks and call on Jesus to protect us, something beyond words takes place here. You just have to experience these things for yourself. It is part of being a spiritual prayer warrior for Our Lord:

It is why the Friday Night Rosary has endured for over 7 years since first started even though the local bishop and priests said the faithful would never continue with it "because it is too long".

It is why some faithful drive several hours each week just to come and pray the 1 hour rosary each Friday in the chapels where Our Lady of America was born.

It is this continued prayerful vigilance which has kept the devil at bay while Our Lady of America has attended to ALL of Her Children who have heard Her call to follow Her Son here in Rome City.

Padre Pio had many such stories of evil attacks. The following is an excerpt from Padre Pio's own remarks and is followed by a witness account:

This is the Father Pio’s testimony: “One day, while I was hearing confessions, a man came to the confessional where I was. He was tall, handsome, dressed with some refinement and he was kind and polite. He started to confess his sins, which were of every kind: against God, against man and against the morals. All the sins were obnoxious! I was disoriented, in fact for all the sins that he told me, but I responded to him with God’s Word, the example of the Church, and the morals of the Saints. But the enigmatic penitent answered me word for word, justifying his sins, always with extreme ability and politeness. He excused all the sinful actions, making them sound quite normal and natural, even comprehensible on the human level.. He continued this way with the sins that were gruesome against God, Our Lady, the Saints, always using disrespectful round-about argumentation. He kept this up even with with the foulest of sins that could be conjured in the mind of a most sinful man. The answers that he gave me with such skilled subtlety and malice surprised me. I wondered: who is he? What world does he come from? And I tried to look at him in order to read something on his face. At the same time I concentrated on every word he spoke, trying to discover any clue to his identity.. But suddenly; through a vivid, radiant and internal light I clearly recognized who he was. With a sound and imperial tone I told him: “Say long live Jesus, long live Mary!” As soon as I pronounced these sweet and powerful names, Satan instantly disappeared in a trickle of fire, leaving behind him an unbearable stench.”

Don Pierino is a priest and one of the father Pio’s spiritual sons who were present at the same time.
Fr. Pierino tells this story: “One day, Padre Pio was in the confessional, hidden by two curtains. The curtains of the confessional were not closed all the way and I succeeded in seeing padre Pio. The men, following the bookings, were prepared on a side, all in single row. From the place where I was, I read the Breviary and, sometimes I looked up to see the Padre. From the little church, through the door, a man came. He was handsome, with small and black eyes, grizzled hair, with a dark jacket and ruled trousers. I didn’t want him to distract me and so I kept on reciting the breviary, but an internal voice told me: “Stop and look!“ I stopped and looked at padre Pio. That man, while taking footstep back and forth and without waiting his turn, stopped just in front of the confessional, after the previous penitent went away. He immediately entered among the curtains, standing, up in front of padre Pio. Then I didn’t see the dark haired man after that moment. Following some minutes I saw that man sank on the floor with his legs widened. On the chair in the confessional, where Padre Pio had been sitting, I didn’t see padre Pio anymore; but, Jesus. He was blond, young and handsome and he gazed upon the man that had fell to the floor. Then again I saw padre Pio coming up from there. He returned to take a seat to in his place and his appearance melted with Jesus’ appearance. Then I saw only Padre Pio. I immediately heard his voice: “Hurry up, everyone.” Nobody noticed this happening! Everybody started with their turn again.